Gary_Yngve Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 Jule already wrote up a great trip report: After getting all hyped up to climb Liberty Ridge this weekend, but getting (again!) thwarted by the weather, I felt antsy and had to get it out of my system and go climb some other ridge, which turned out to be the S ridge of Kyes Peak. Fortunately Gary came along, to saved me from soloing in a very lonely place. Kyes is one of the peaks of the very cool Monte Cristo group, and at 7227 (or so) the highest. It can be approached from several different directions, including the Upper Pride Glacier which is rumored to be a good ice climb. We took the S ridge, to which you get from the Blanca Lake trailhead. We got to the trailhead Saturday night, walked up to the saddle where you join the ridge and where lovely little Virgin Lake is located, and camped there. It drizzled a bit overnight, and we woke up to profuse cloudiness. Fortunately the ridge is foolproof to follow, because if you don't you fall down many hundred feet on either side. We knew it was a long climb (16 miles round trip), but were still surprised by how long it was! The ridge stretches for about five miles, and most of it was climbing over rolling cornices at the ridgetop, with the occasional interspersed rock outcroppings and cascadesy tree acrobatics. We couldn't see a dang thing most of the way to the summit, but it turns out you don't really see the summit anyway until you get to the false summit, which we reached via a short steep snow finger after a long slush traverse. Once on the summit, the cloud ceiling started lifting slowly, and revealing snippets of awe-inspiring scenery, lofty cragginess and tumbling ice and water. Except for a guy who climbed the peak from Monte Cristo in January (wow), we were the first ones up there this year. On the way back, we followed our footsteps, up and down every bump on the ridge, not wanting any epics caused by clever detours. A very aesthetic, athletic scramble! This picture captures most everything about the day... quintessential Cascades goodness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catbirdseat Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 This can be done in one long day, but it requires an alpine start. Another way you can go is to camp at Blanca Lake and scramble up the west face from Columbia Glacier. You meet the S. Ridge and continue up on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted June 3, 2003 Share Posted June 3, 2003 The monte cristo area s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolanr Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 Nice TR. Monte Cristo Peak from Glacier Basin is high on my to do list this year, probably in the near future. Did Columbia from Twin Lakes side several years ago. Might have to give Keyes a try too. I think it could be combined w/ Monte Cristo, might be a fairly long outing. I cruised up the Columbia Glacier last year in early October, barely any crevasses, not very steep. Nice little stroll. Agree w/ above, that whole area . The main Wilmons Peak was a good outing, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted June 4, 2003 Share Posted June 4, 2003 nolan traversed columbia, monte and keyes last sept! did it in 2 easy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leejams Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Kool picture, if you get 5 miles of that it would be worth doing no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolanr Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 erik said: nolan traversed columbia, monte and keyes last sept! did it in 2 easy days! Sounds fun. Which direction did you go? In and out on the same trailhead or car shuttle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 went in blanca up to columbia from the lake and around loop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolanr Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Cool. Where was camp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolanr Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 Leejams and I did it Saturday, same route, S ridge. Jeff Smoot is on crack or something, he lists it as 12 miles roundtrip. Agree w/ above, 16 miles sounds more like it. We left the ridge crest a few times which always entailed either brush thwacking or nasty sidehilling on snow or heather. Beautiful day, perfectly clear views the whole time. I was pretty surprised Blanca Lake is completely thawed out, although Virgin Lake is mostly snow covered still. We did it in a day, didn't require an alpine start w/ the length of the days we're having we got back before dark. Pretty well wore me out. There was what looked like an avalanche runout descending WAY down into one of the valleys, maybe between 2,000-3,000 feet w/ a significant amount of snow still, when the snow level in general was way above that. Must have been a massive amount of snow that slid down that way. Also surprised how hard it was to find water once we were on the ridge. There's snow everywhere but barely any trickles of water you can fill up from. Got damn thirsty, it was hot up there. No but lots of dogs on the trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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